Wilhelmina Tokcumboh "Mina" Smallman (born 29 October 1956) is a British retired

Anglican priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

and former school teacher. She served as the

Archdeacon of Southend The Archdeacons in the Diocese of Chelmsford are senior ecclesiastical officers in the Church of England in Essex and East London. They currently include: the Archdeacon of West Ham, the Archdeacon of Colchester and the archdeacons of Chelmsford, ...

in the

Diocese of Chelmsford The Diocese of Chelmsford is a Church of England diocese, part of the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers Essex and the five East London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, and Waltham Forest (most of which wer ...

from September 2013 until her retirement in December 2016. She was the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

's first female

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...

from a

black and minority ethnic A number of different systems of classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom exist. These schemata have been the subject of debate, including about the nature of ethnicity, how or whether it can be categorised, and the relationship betwe ...

background.

Early life

Smallman was born on 29 October 1956 in

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

. Her mother Catherine was of Scottish descent and her father Bill was of Nigerian heritage.

Career

During her whole career she says she suffered misogyny and racism, mainly due to privileged white men questioning her right to be where she was.

Teaching

Smallman studied Drama, English and Voice at the

Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Education A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) is an undergraduate professional degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. In some countries such as Tanzania and Kenya, additional tasks like field work and research are required in order for ...

(BEd) degree in 1988. She then worked as a drama teacher for 15 years. By 2005, she was an assistant principal of John Kelly Girls' Technology College.

Ordained ministry

Smallman trained for ordination on the North Thames Ministerial Training Course. During her training, she also studied

contextual theology Contextual theology or contextualizing theology refers to theology which has responded to the dynamics of a particular context. Terminology The term contextualizing theology was used in missiology by Shoki Coe when he argued that the Venn-Anders ...

Middlesex University Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated MDX) is a public research university in Hendon, northwest London, England. The name of the university is taken from its location within the historic county boundaries ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(BA) degree in 2006. Smallman was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

in the

as a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

in 2006 and as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

in 2007. After

curacies A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy ...

in Harrow and

Stanmore Stanmore is part of the London Borough of Harrow in London. It is centred northwest of Charing Cross, lies on the outskirts of the London urban area and includes Stanmore Hill, one of the highest points of London, at high. The district, which ...

she was

Team Vicar Vicar is a title given to certain parish priests in the Church of England and other Anglican churches. It has played a significant role in Anglican church organisation in ways that are different from other Christian denominations. The title is ver ...

Barking Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

from 2010 until her

Archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...

’s appointment. In June 2013, it was announced that Smallman would be the next

. On 16 September 2013, she was installed as

during at a service at

Chelmsford Cathedral Chelmsford Cathedral in the city of Chelmsford, Essex, United Kingdom, is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, St Peter and St Cedd. It became a cathedral when the Anglican Diocese of Chelmsford was created in 1914 and is the seat of the Bishop o ...

. She retired on 31 December 2016. In 2021 she was chosen by

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's ''Today'' programme to be one of seven guest editors during the Christmas period.

Personal life

Smallman had three daughters. Since 1992, she has been married to Christopher. The bodies of two of Smallman's daughters, Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry, were discovered, stabbed to death, in

Fryent Country Park Fryent Country Park, together with Barn Hill Open Space, is a large park situated in the north of the London Borough of Brent. It covers 103 hectares (254 acres) of rolling fields and small woods. Fryent was also a ward of the London Borough of ...

, Brent on 7 June 2020. Mina Smallman maintains the police did not do enough to find the missing sisters early on and maintains there was a racist element in this. An inquiry by the

Independent Office for Police Conduct The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is a non-departmental public body in England and Wales which, since 8 January 2018, is responsible for overseeing the system for handling complaints made against police forces in England and Wale ...

made some criticisms of the investigation but considered that there was no element of racism involved. A murder investigation was launched. On 2 July 2020, Danyal Hussein was charged with murdering Smallman and Henry. He was found guilty on 6 July 2021 and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 35 years. Smallman maintains that most police are amazing people who do an amazing job but there is an influential misogynistic minority and we need to work to overcome this. Smallman maintains

Cressida Dick Dame Cressida Rose Dick (born 16 October 1960) is a British retired senior police officer who served as Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis from 2017 to 2022. She is both the first female and first openly homosexual officer to lead the Me ...

tried to mislead her. Smallman maintains Dick gave the impression problems with investigation of her daughters' murders were unusual and isolated incidents when, in reality Dick knew about investigations of wrong doing at Charing Cross Police Station and knew there were larger problems. Smallman said, "So she would have known that this wasn't an isolated incident. I didn't expect her to throw herself or the Met under the bus, but to behave in a way that sounds as though 'this is incredible', or 'we've never heard of anything like this in our lives' he conduct of the officers in Fryent Country Park it was a lie."

Honours

Smallman was included in the BBC's ''100 Women'' list for 2021, which honours the most inspiring and influential women from around the world. In 2021, the BBC were concerned to highlight women who are hitting 'reset' - women who are reinventing our society, our culture, and our world. Smallman was recognised for her trailblazing as the first female Church of England archdeacon from a black or ethnic-minority background, and for her campaigning to make UK streets safer and to reform the police. This follows the murder of her daughters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry in 2020.

References

External links

Tributes from the Smallman and Henry families
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smallman, Mina 1956 births Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama Alumni of Middlesex University Archdeacons of Southend British people of Nigerian descent Living people BBC 100 Women